


Lost

by Pixel_Runner



Series: The Practicalities of Werewolves in the Modern Age [1]
Category: Original Work, werewolves - Fandom
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Dogs know what you do behind closed doors, Ex-Privateers, Faking your own death, Gen, Heavily Tattooed Men, I Blame Google Maps, Kind of Stalking?, Librarians are the Secret Masters of the World, Lone Wolf, Mild Language, Pack Life, Really Places I've Never Been To, Sorry Erin and Melissa, They Control Information, They also list their names on the website, Werewolves, Women with no time for flirty boys, no beta we publish our first drafts like men, not a/b/o, twice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-03-23 15:54:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13791054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixel_Runner/pseuds/Pixel_Runner
Summary: Occationally we lose one.  Always a Yennork.  It's pretty hard to lose a LooperTeaser for upcoming work





	1. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character bible

We occasionally lose one.  Always a Yennork.  It’s pretty hard to lose a Looper.  In 1947 Prince George BC, a 30 year old nurse was walking home at night.  She was attacked by a wolf.  One of the local loggers heard her scream and when he found her, he shot the wolf in the head.  The Looper might have survived this, but he couldn’t survive the town Vet dissecting him to look for signs of rabies.

 

Alice went home to her family.  She raised her two little girls who had the best looking mom of any of their highschool friends.  She grieved her husband when he died of a heart attack, aged 72, thirty years after the attack.  She blamed her youthful appearance on good genes and clean living.

 

By the time she retired, age 63, she had done what Yennork do.  She made the whole town her pack.  That isn’t to say that she infected everyone, but rather that she knew everyone.  All of their secrets.  Their hopes and dreams and fears.

 

Her daughters had moved away for university and gotten married by the time that Alice really noticed something was wrong.  It was just that she had no idea what to do about it.  The town doctor teased her for complaining she was too healthy.

 

Alice shrugged and opened a bakery.

 

Her daughters sent pictures of them and their families.  But the time her grandchildren were in high school, her daughters looked older than she did.

 

Alice used her volunteer position at the hospital to register a fake birth in 1971.  The way things were going, it seemed like it would come in handy.

 

In 1995 she sold the bakery and moved two towns over. When she received her new driver’s licence at her new address, she filed a complaint with the DMV that her licence was incorrect.  She might be a mature looking 21 year old, but she clearly did not look 78.  Since it was obviously a transcription error, 1917 instead of 1971 and May 12th instead of December 5th, the clerk didn't hesitate to issue her a new drivers licence.  Now Alice had two pieces of ID with her revised birthday on it.Two years after that, Alice "the second" filed a missing person’s complaint saying that her eighty year old grandmother had wandered out of the house in the night.

 

The police search turned up nothing.  Alice was declared legally dead two years later.  She used her insurance money to buy a computer and take some courses in Pre - Nursing.

 

Alice convocated top of her class in 2002 and got a full time job nursing in Smithers BC.  It reminded her of Prince George when she had settled there with her husband in the 1940’s.

 

Her wedding band still fit.

 

 


	2. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What it says on the lable

Alice was smarter this time.  She faked a birth certificate as soon as she got to Smithers.  She also made visits to the doctor in a fake patient chart, knowing that the town doctors aren’t that meticulous with their billing.  They certainly weren’t going to notice getting paid more.  She had fake vaccination records for Alice the third.  She had “homeschooled” for elementary school but was in the process of really taking high school by distance ed.  Some of the science was new, but at this rate she would get a scholarship when she went to post secondary, again.

 

She technically turned a hundred this year.  Officially, she was forty-six.  She still looked 30.  She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she got sick.  She had a couple of injuries, but they had healed quickly.  The remarkable thing (aside from not aging, of course) was that one of the teeth she had pulled as a teenager had grown back.

 

This wasn’t something she could explain.  She had no idea if there was anyone else like her out there.  She was slight afraid to come forward.  Either she wouldn’t be believed and would be institutionalize or, worse, she would and she would be dissected.  Working in healthcare she was all too aware of the story behind the  [ HeLa ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa) cells.  But if it was possible for  [ Henrietta Lacks ](http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/) , it wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe Alice was experiencing something similar.  The thing was, she didn’t want to end up like Henrietta or her family.

 

One more year and she would graduate from high school again and could move on.  She liked Smithers, but after 17 years, the ladies in her quilting group were starting to ask her secret.  She had no idea how she had gotten away with being 70 in Prince George.  Dowdy wardrobe and a old lady hair cut and the weakest grade of reading glasses perched permanently on her nose had done the trick.  It wasn’t working as well this time.  Her hair was still light brown, but she was dying it as if to cover grey.  Where hair dye had been noticeable last time, she was having to purposely give herself a bad dye job this time. Even still, people kept trying to get her to update her “look.”

 

She had turned down a lot of dates over the years.  Now that her peers were settling their divorces, she was once again under pressure to date.  There had been men she had liked spending time with, but … her sex drive was just gone.  None of them were interesting  _ in that way _ , but that didn’t stop them from being interested in her.  Easier to just stick with the ladies from the quilting group.

 

\----

 

Earl was on his way from Calgary to Prince Rupert, which, as far as he was concerned, was the edge of the world.  He had divided his trip up as Calgary to Prince George the first day.  That way he could have lunch in Jasper and overnight someplace with a bar.  He decided to stop in Smithers for lunch on his second day on a whim.

 

He was barely out of his truck when he smelled her.

 

Yennork.  Alone.  No pack.

 

What the actual fuck?

 

He spent the day sniffing around.  Her smell was everywhere.  She was definitely holding this territory.

 

That gave him some pause and a long phone call with the council.  He was told to finish his run to Prince Rupert and they would send a couple up to Smithers to help him look.  He could meet them on his way back.

 

Earl wasn’t too sure about that.  Yennork didn’t necessarily get along.  She was obviously keeping her territory clear of Loopers.  Michael pointed out that Earl wasn’t the most diplomatic person to try to deal with a lost Yennork.  Earl rolled his eyes and pointed out that he had managed Sarah of Bellmont better than the Trout River alpha.

 

Michael said he would take that under advisement.

 

The thing was, Michael was right.  Earl was on his own because he didn’t really play well with other Loopers.  He knew the secret.  Alpha wasn’t about being bigger or stronger or faster.  There were only three things you needed to be alpha.

 

The ability to control what pheromones you shed.

 

The ability to ignore what pheromones others are shedding.

 

And, most importantly, the desire to control others.

 

Earl had the first two, which meant that he didn’t take any orders he did want to, but not the second.  He had no desire to boss a pack around.  Or to manipulate a Yennork into staying with him.

 

He had done it.  That was why he had talked Sarah into staying with him and sleeping in his cabin when she hadn’t wanted to do either.  But it wasn’t really… him.  It felt morally wrong.  Which was an odd philosophy coming from a man who had been a privateer.  He still had his letter of marque somewhere.

 

The problem was, he didn’t want to walk away from this to make a delivery.  He wasn’t hauling anything perishable and the pack in Prince Rupert could damn well wait an extra day or two for their furniture.  He sat in the truck and thought about this for a moment.

 

Then he put on his most charming smile and went to the library.

 

Smithers had a surprisingly nice library for a small town.  Earl walked past the children’s area and the bulletin board covered in community program notices.  The two women working that day were more than happy to help him, but neither Erin nor Melissa nor the clippings folder had any record of someone being attacked by a wolf in the last fifty years.  There had been grizzly bear attacks on people (which he was willing to consider) and a dog that had been attacked by a wolf that also stalked the dog’s owner.  But no attacks by wolves on people.

 

“This may have been some time ago.” Earl said finally.

 

The librarians looked at him.  “If you can give us a time frame-” Melissa started.

 

Earl shook his head.  “Nah.  My mom was just telling me that a young woman was attacked by a wolf in these parts a while ago.  I was just curious to get the story because wolves don’t usually attack people.”

 

“Not unless they are hurt or sick.” Erin agreed.  “You could check with town records, or ask Dr Robinson.  He has been practicing medicine in town for almost 50 years.”

 

“Hmm… good idea.  Thank you, ladies.”  Earl gave them a twinkling, flirty smile and went to find the town doctor.

 

\----

 

Earl had thought to town reeked of Yennork, but it was almost a physical wall as he walked into the hospital.  The building was a depressing concrete structure in that 1970’s institutional design the indicated either a hospital or a prison.  The very walls seemed to be permeated with the smell of unattached Yennork.

 

The problem was, he wasn’t able to charm his way past the receptionist.

 

He sat his ass in a chair in the waiting room and just waited.  Just because the librarian had described the doctor as a he, didn’t mean that he wasn’t a Yennork passing as a man.  Transgendered Yennork had a much easier time of it than transgendered Loopers.

 

He pulled out his phone and texted what he had learned so far to his friend, Rick, on the Council.

 

R: I thought you were supposed to leave and come back.

 

E: Yeah, because having a pack turn up in her territory won’t activate her fight or flight response.  That was a dumb ass decision on your brother’s part.

 

R: Nathan isn’t always

R: as diplomatic as he could be.

 

E: I’m in the hospital.  She has been here a long time

 

R: that doesn’t make sense  she can’t be hurt

 

E: unless she is on staff

 

R: any ideas?

 

E: the town dr has been prcticing for 50 yrs

 

R: !!!

 

E: yeah

 

“Hey!  Read the signs!  You can’t have your cell phone on in here!”

 

Earl looked up and fell out of his chair.  The Yennork was yelling at him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments?


	3. Out of Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, Earl found the Yennork. Now he just needed to figure out how to talk to her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bold indicated the person is talking in Speak, the language of werewolves.

Earl looked up at her from the floor and stammered, politely averting his eyes, “ **Apologies, Yennork!  I did not mean to intrude or offend.  I wanted to make sure you were all right, as you have no pack to care for you.** ”

 

“Tammy!  Get the crash team in here! This man is having a seizure!”

 

Earl frowned, “ **I am not having a fit, Yennork!  It is just that you surprised me!** ”

 

The little girl in the wait room hugged her mom and asked loudly, “Mama, why is that man barking?”  


That’s when Earl realized the Yennork was looking at him with concern, not understanding.  She didn’t know the Looper language, Speak.  OK.  That was alarming.  Earl allowed himself to be lifted onto a stretcher and hauled through the doors to the Emergency room.  He lay there quietly while the receptionist described him as coming in confused and asking for a doctor, but not wanting to register.

 

The Yennork listened to his heart and took his blood pressure.  She gasped and stared when someone came in and  removed his shirt and shoes to hook him up to a heart monitor.  At that he blinked and sat up.

 

“Sir!” Someone asked, shining a light in his eyes, “Do you know where you are?”  He frowned at the grey haired woman with the South African accent who was asking him.  He blinked a couple of time.  “Can you tell me your name, sir?” she tried.

 

“...I’m  Earl…”

 

“Do you know where you are, Earl?”

 

He just frowned at the woman.  The Yennork was hovering.  That was a good place to start.  He looked at her.  She nodded encouragingly.

 

“Smithers?” he asked.

 

The woman, Dr Muller, asked him the date and to remember three things and repeat them back to her later.  He held still and went along with it until they asked to do some blood tests.

 

“Noooo!  No needles!” he flat out said.  “I don’t like needles!”  It was a safer answer than trying to explain he wasn’t sure his blood would test as human.  Something about his blood cells being the wrong shape.  The doctor was trying to talk him into it.  Eventually, he was forced to say that he was leaving AMA.

 

The Yennork stopped him on his way out.  Her ID badge said her name was Alice.  “How old are you?” she asked.

 

“Forty-seven,” Earl responded promptly.  She narrowed her eyes, but nodded and turned away. “Why do you ask?”

 

She stopped.  “My grandfather had some of the same tattoos as you. I thought… It doesn’t really matter what I thought.”

 

Earl hesitated. ”They are very common tattoos.  Having them doesn’t make me almost 250 years old.”  Now she froze. She turned and looked hard at him.  “Listen,” he said, “I appreciate your help when I … fell out of my chair.  Can I buy you dinner after your shift?  We can talk about tattoo history if you like.”

 

She watched him long enough that Earl started to feel uncomfortable before she said.  “Yes.  We could talk about some history.  I’m off shift at eight.  I’ll meet you at the River House at nine.”

 

Earl nodded.

 

\----

 

It was four o’clock when Earl had left the hospital.

 

He idly wondered which of his many tattoos she had recognized. He had a quite a lot of them at this point.  He was pretty much completely inked from the collar down.  Some of the older ones were almost hidden under new layers.  He even had a couple by [ Norman ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Jerry), from before the man was famous, although, the turtle in his shoulder that he had gotten in Samoa in 1830 was still his favourite.

 

He got to the bar early, ordered a beer and plate of nachos, then pre tipped the waitress a fifty to keep his glass full.  “I’ll drink ‘em, you bring ‘em.  Let me know when I’m cut off and I’ll settle my tab with an official tip at that point.  This is just a bonus so you pay attention.”

 

The waitress’s name tag said, Nikki.  She had black hair and green eyes and a smooth caramel complexion that spoke of a native american somewhere in her ancestry.  Earl wouldn’t have thought she was old enough to drink in a bar, let alone serve in one.  So he was surprised when she smiled at him and said, “I wouldn’t think a man like you would need to pay a woman for attention.”  Then she tucked the cash into her bra.

 

Earl frowned.  “You can stop that now.  You are my daughter’s age.”

 

The waitress laughed and winked and said, “Sorry, Daddy!” as she walked away with an extra sway to her hips.  Earl swore softly under his breath and took a sip of his beer.  He remembered what the [ Tsimshian ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsimshian) had done with the first group of Loopers they met.  There was no way he was going to even think about interfering with someone who might be one of their daughters.

 

He cracked his knuckles and dug out his phone.  The infection had cured the arthritis he had been starting to get when he was turned, but his joints still went off like someone stomping on bubble wrap occasionally.  He called to update Michael and got Nathan instead, which meant and extended period of nearly incomprehensible swearing.  Earl had started life with a Liverpool accent, that he had lost a very long time ago.  While he had no trouble understanding Nathan when he was upset, these days the man just reminded him of a Guy Ritchie movie.  Or Cockneys vs Zombies.

 

Earl listened politely while the man ranted and eventually ran to a stop with, “You eatin’?!”  


“Yeah.”  Earl confirmed.  “Nachos in the local bar.  The Yennork is due to meet me here after her shift at work.  Unless you want me to stand her up, boss.”

 

He didn’t laugh at Nathan’s incoherent shriek of rage, but it was hard.

 

\----

 

It was only by sheer force of will that Alice was able to concentrate on work after the … patient left.  She wasn’t willing to call him a man.  She hadn’t noticed at first, but he didn’t smell right.  Normally, people smell like laundry soap and hair care products (or hair grease).  She could smell their deodorant and/or their sweat and any other products they used.  She could smell what they ate for lunch and whether their shoes were leather, canvas or pvc.  This man was different.  His base smell was different and he had been care to choose unscented products.  His clothes were all natural fibres and his boots were real leather with leather soles.

 

No one was that careful with what they put on their bodies.

 

No one but her.

 

And he had crosses tattooed on the soles of his feet.  Her grandfather had been a sailor.  He had those tattoos as well, said it was to protect you from sharks if you fell off the ship, but her father had been born in 1890, and his father, her grandfather was not a young man when he got married.  Alice didn’t remember his dates, only that he was older than dirt, swore, drank and was tattooed.  His being so thoroughly disreputable had stuck in Alice’s head, even if he had passed away when she was fourteen.

 

The other tattoos, compass roses, the rosary, the crossed anchors, even the hold fast tattooed on his fingers, she had seen those before.  But she had only seen the crosses on the soles of the feet once before.  And that joke he made, about being almost 250 years old, that would be about right for him to be her grandfather’s contemporary.

 

Alice has long ago given up on the “everyone is special” idea that was so popular these days.  No one was special.  There was never only person out there who was they way their were.  That meant she couldn’t be the only person cursed with a longer than normal life.  Since she had never heard of another, she also couldn’t be the only one hiding it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated!


	4. Out of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice's 'date' and a Captain America reference.

Alice went home after work and had a shower.  She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to do this, but it was her town.  People knew her. If the guy gave her any trouble, the owner of the River House, Greg, would bounce the guy for her.  Shoot. What the heck did she wear to a “meet a guy for drinks and try to find out if he’s also over a hundred” date?

 

Not a date!  This was not a date.

 

She settled on the unofficial uniform of Smithers and went with jeans, a t-shirt and a flannel shirt as a jacket.  OK, so she picked a blue flannel shirt that matched her eyes and was slightly tailored to show off her curves, but still.  Not a date.

 

It was completely random that she was also wearing her favourite bra.

 

When she arrived at River House, Nikki took one look at her and whistled, “Looking good, Mrs. Leffler!  Table for one?” Alice flinched. Unless she was out with co-workers, it was always table for one.

 

This time she shook her head, but before she could say anything, Earl had hurried over and held out his hand.  Alice shook it. “You look nice,” he said. “We’re sitting by the fireplace.”

 

Behind Earl, Nikki gave her a contemptuous look that set Alice’s teeth on edge.  She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax.

 

Earl noticed.  “Is everything alright?” he asked, seeming genuinely concerned.

 

“Peachy.” Alice gritted out.

 

Earl was not reassured, but he led Alice to their table and held her chair as she sat.  “I just want to get this out of the way, straight out of the gate. No argument, dinner is on me.”

 

Alice was a little surprised at both of those things, but she rallied and nodded.

 

Nikki turned up with a pitcher of beer and asked Earl if he was ready to order.  He frowned at her, “Ladies first,” he said firmly.

 

Alice cleared her throat, “I’ll have a glass of Merlot and the Magret de Canard,” she said calmly.

 

Nikki never took her eyes off of Earl as she wrote that down.

 

Earl noticed.  He made and held eye contact, dumping a few aggression pheromones and waiting for the girl to look away.  It only took a moment. “Make that a bottle of Merlot,” Earl said, calmly. “We’ll start with the Artichoke dip and the Mushroom caps, then I’ll have the Surf and Turf as well as the Mushroom Ravioli.”

 

Alice cleared her throat, “These aren’t small portions, Earl.”

 

Earl leaned back in his chair and grinned, “There is a saying that works perfectly in this situation.  When men go out for dinner, it’s a competition for who can eat the most. When women go out for dinner, it’s a competition to see who can eat the least.   Tonight, at least, I’m expecting you to eat like a man and at least try some of that.”

 

Alice was surprised.  Nikki shook her head and left.  Alice shrugged and nodded, “I’ll see if I can help.”

 

“Plus, I’m hoping to have a few hours of your company.  So, with any luck that will settle in time for dessert.”  Earl threw out his most charming smile and positively had his eyes twinkling at her.

 

She frowned.  “I work in emergency medicine.  That means, in terms of cynicism, I’m about a hundred. That Mr Charming routine isn’t going to work on me.”

 

Suddenly, Earl’s smile was genuine and it looked all the better for it.  “How old are you on paper?" he asked.

 

“Forty six.” Alice said flatly.

 

“Nah,” Earl grinned, “I would have a hard time believing thirty.”  Alice narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything. OK, Earl thought, time to get this show on the road.  “You have family around here?”

 

“That’s an odd thing to ask.”

 

“Huh.  Funny story.  I used to be a sailor.  Stopped in port one time, as in actual Portugal, and was randomly bitten by a stray dog.  Got me good, right down to the bone on my left knee. I’ve got to tell you, that is a life changing event.”  He took a sip of his beer, watching her face carefully. She didn’t flinch or show surprise, but he could see the instant where she suppressed the reaction.  

 

After a moment, she took off the flannel shirt, and leaned forward putting her elbows on the table.  She scratched her arm and pulled up the sleeve of her t-shirt while doing so, showing off the bottom of a bite mark.  “They ever find the dog?” she asked carefully.

 

“Oh yeah.  I got to know everything about that dog.”

 

“Me too.”  Alice replied.  “They did a full dissection on the wolf that got me.”

 

Earl choked on his beer.  Oh. Hell. He had no idea what to say to that.  He went with, “Oh.” Then he thought carefully.

 

“It’s OK.”  Alice said quietly.  “It was so long ago, it feels like it’s been seventy years.”

 

Earl licked his lips.  “That’s a long time to be alone,” he said, lowering his voice enough that a hume wouldn’t be able to hear him.

 

Alice looked down and nodded, her eyes going shiney.

 

“We are usually better at finding each other than this,” he added.  “No one should have to be alone that long.”

 

“How long for you?” Alice asked.

 

Earl shrugged and took another drink of his beer, then leaned out of the way as someone who wasn’t Nikki brought out the appetizers.  The man gave Alice a pointed look. She shrugged.

 

“If you need anything else, just let me know,” the man rumbled.

 

Alice waited until Greg was out of earshot to say, “I think you made Nikki uncomfortable.”

 

Earl shrugged.  “She was being rude.  Flirting with the customers is one thing, rudeness is another.”

 

Alice laughed, “Now you sound like an old man, ‘Kids these days, got no respect for their elders.”

 

Earl laugh, “Get off my lawn!”  He poured Alice a glass of wine and help himself to a mushroom.  He made small talk about his life as a long haul trucker and about being a sailor before that.  He waited until the appetizer plates were clear and a second bottle of wine was opened before saying, “You don’t have to be lonely, you know.”

 

Alice groaned, “Oh, Earl, and you were doing so well up until just then.”

 

Earl shrugged, “I’m not hitting on you.  Well, not much anyway. I wasn’t sure if you knew there is a dating service for people like us.”

 

“What?” Alice joked, “Cut us in half and count the rings?”

 

Earl laughed.  “Dunno, I’ve never tried that.  No, I meant, like… You know how there is Christian Mingle or J-date?”

 

“You’re trying to tell me there is ‘Really old bastards date?’  What is that, a dot com thing?”

 

Earl shook his head.  “Nah, more like… a professional association.  We are only a quarter of one percent of the population.  We need an organization to keep track of us. Help out with the … more unusual circumstances of our lives.  Plus, well, did you see that Captain America movie?”

 

Alice shrugged.

 

“Ok, so Captain America gets frozen in a glacier at the end of World War two, and then they find-”

 

“I’m familiar with the story.” Alice interrupted.  “The original version at least.”

 

Earl stared at her, having completely lost his train of thought.  “You still have the comics?” he asked.

 

Alice snorted.  “No. They were my brother’s at any rate.”

 

Earl was quiet for a moment, then continues, “After he thaws, his co-worker keeps trying to fix him up.  He says, it’s hard to find people with shared life experience. We tend to have similar issues. Not so many people we can talk to about… historical tattoos and where we remember them from.”  Earl considered this next bit. It was a gamble, but not much of one. “Plus, most people these days smell weird.”

 

That did it.  Alice gasped. “Oh my god!  I thought it was just me! It’s like the whole world had gone completely mad with the VOC’s!  Even most of the unscented stuff still smells weird.”

 

Earl laughed and drank some more of his beer.  “Cute little waitress has been making eyes at me, but I can’t even tell her she stinks like-” he waved his hand looking for the right words.

 

“- horrible artificial watermelon lotion and vile floral shampoo.”  Alice finished. “Plus why do they need to put perfume in lipstick? I like lipstick!  There are hardly any brands I can wear.”

 

Earl shrugged, “If you don’t mind me introducing you to a few other Yennork - that is women with the same condition as you - I’m sure you could swap brand recommendations or whatever.”

 

“Yennork?”

 

“It’s what the women call themselves.  The men tend to go with Looper.”

 

“Huh.”  Alice thought about that and held out her glass for Earl to top up her wine.  “The rise of the internet has been very helpful for finding products for the scent sensitive.  Plus, online shopping is great for all kinds of things.”

 

Earl nodded.  “There are a surprising number of us who don’t internet.  I just relocated a whole family that had been basically internet free until they got a Yennork this fall and she demanded it.”

 

Alice frowned.  “Got a Yennork?”

 

Earl tensed.  “This is the complicated part.  The thing that is keeping us alive is a virus.  The family I’m talking about was a group of men living together.  Then there was some sort of accident and they ended up with a woman with a brain bleed on their hands.  They deliberately infected her to save her life. But that didn’t give them ownership over her or anything.  It was touch and go for quite a while as to whether she was going to stay with them or move out on her own. In the end, they had an automotive business and she liked restoring old cars, so she did.

 

“But,” and here Earl stressed his next point, “she didn’t have to.”

 

Alice considered this as she finished the last stuffed mushroom.  Greg hurried over to clear the plates and was back a moment later with their entrees.  “Why did you have to relocate them?”

 

Earl watched for a while, “Have you been here the whole time?”  Alice carefully shook her head. He nodded, “We have everything set up to move people every ten to fifteen years.  New names, new identities, keeps the hu- normal people from asking too many questions.” He pushed the plate of mushroom ravioli towards her.

 

Alice speared one with her fork.  “I’m not going to help you with that.” She finally said.

 

Earl was shocked.  “Of course not!” he exclaimed.  “We would never ask you to. We have a whole team of professionals for that.”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Posting from my phone, so I hope this works!
> 
> Earl finds a way in to Alice’s life for the Council.

  
Alice stiffened. “What do you mean you have a team of professionals for that?”

Earl paused, his beer halfway to his lips. “Alice, 0.25% of the world population is still 19 million people. People with this condition can work their whole life, we tend to be financially well off, eventually. We can afford to -”

Alice leaned back as she interrupted, “Be the undead mafia?”

Earl stared at her, then burst out laughing. He set down his beer and wiped the tears from his eyes. “Sure, I guess, but we aren’t. That’s the sort of thing that gets you noticed. We tend to like our anonymity. You could have gone public, right? You could have started up a cosmetic company and made a fortune on anti-aging cream. Or signed up for the Guiness book of records. But you didn’t.”

Alice looked down. “I didn’t want to be a freak.”

Earl reached towards her, but stopped. “Hey, I understand completely. This is the sort of thing that could get a person lynched back in the day. That’s a big part of why we organized. No one likes being alone, but… It’s better to be around people you can be honest with.

Alice looked up and nodded. “How did you find me?”

“In the hospital.”

Alice shook her head. “You came to the hospital and fell out of your chair as soon as you saw me. We couldn’t find anything wrong with you. So… how did you find me?”

Earl sighed, “I will explain, but you will likely get the wrong idea. I’m not trying to be offensive. I don’t mean this in a bad way.” He stopped a took a deep breath, Alice looked worried. “I smelled you,” he confessed. “I stopped for lunch and I could smell that there was one of us in town. I didn’t know you were going to be at the hospital. I was actually looking for the doctor who had been practicing for fifty years. I thought, maybe he would have information about dog or wolf attacks.”

Alice nodded slowly. “So, now that you’ve found me, what happens next?”

Earl chewed thoughtfully around a bite of steak. “That’s up to you. I’m going to Prince Rupert tomorrow. I can give you my contact information and that of the … we call it the Treaty Council. We have a non-disclosure Treaty. But it is up to you if you want to contact them or not. There aren’t any others here, so this is your territory. You can always tell anyone who shows up to piss off. If you end up moving, it’s considered polite to let the local families know you will be in their space. We can get a little territorial at times.”

Alice considered this. Analysing your own behaviour was always problematic, she knew. People have confirmation bias, especially around their own behaviour. However, she was willing to own up to the territorial thing. She had been a jealous wife and mother. She tried not to let it interfere with her relationships, but it was there. It was there enough that ….

Well, by all accounts both of her son in laws has be good men, good fathers. Certainly by the standards of the 1960’s. And yet Alice had only ever tried to visit once. She loved her daughters, but had been so uncomfortable being in someone else’s house (even if it was her daughter’s, or at least her son in laws) that she hadn’t ever gone back. It was easier when they came to visit her. In her space, where she was in control.

Of course, once they had children, travelling got a lot harder. She and her children had just sort of drifted apart. It had been the very expensive long distance phone call where he oldest was complaining about menopause where Alice had realized something was wrong. She had been in her sixties at the time and was still regular as clock work. She still was. Four times a year, with the season change.

What she said was, “I don’t really like to travel much.” And that was true. She had always justified it to herself as being old enough not to really trust airplanes. But that didn’t explain why she didn’t take the train anywhere. It was too expensive. Except it wasn’t, not like it had been where she was younger, and she could certainly afford it. She had been invited along a number of times, with classmates at school when she was getting her degree, again. Actually, she had barely left campus when she was at school.

She liked spaces she could control.

Earl shrugged and ate and left her alone with her thoughts for a few moments.

What she finally settled on was asking Earl for the contact information for the council. They had a little more small talk, then Alice went home. She didn’t invite Earl up. She had just met him and she wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t delusional.

Of course, there were times when she wondered about herself. The memories existed in her head. But she still kept her wedding picture up to remind her that it was real. People often commented on how much she looked like “Grandma Alice.” It was real. This was really happening to her, but it was better to just focus on one day at a time and not dwell on the bigger picture. The idea that she was going to be alive and alone forever was just too depressing.

And that, that right there, was the thing that made Earl’s story about there being more people like this so damned attractive.

\----

Earl settled into his bunk and called in.

“How was dinner?” Mike asked with a twinkle in his voice.

Earl snorted, “Well, I’m calling you from the sleeper in my truck.”

“Oh.”

“She has my number and the number for corporate office. I would hold off on sending the team. She is going to need some time to process.”

There was a pause while Michael considered this. “Alright. Do you have her number?”

“No. She didn’t offer it to me. I told her to call me if she wanted to talk. I think we have to leave it at that for now. She’s a lot older than I thought. She will need some time to get used to the idea. I didn’t tell her about shifting either. I’m pretty sure that would have gotten me labeled as crazy. We are going to have to work up to that.”

“How old?”

“I didn’t flat out ask. But she made a number of allusions to being over a hundred.”

There was a long moment of silence. Then Michael asked, “How in hell did we lose one for that long?”

Earl shrugged, “We weren’t as organized back then. She lives in a small town and doesn’t like to travel.”

Mike snorted at that. “Of course she doesn’t. Is it just her, or do we have an entire undocumented pack on our hands?”

Despite Mike not being able to see him, Earl shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. “It’s just her. I’ve been all over this town, all I can smell is Yennork. There aren’t any Loopers in her territory. She strikes me as the lone wolf type. It just happens that she’s female.”

“Well, now,” Mike said, “that is something to think about.”

Earl sighed and growled and rubbed the back of his neck. “As much as I hate to say this, I think we’ve done all we can for now. The ball is in her court now. If we really push, we are just going to alienate her.”

“I don’t like the idea of just leaving her like that.” Mike said quietly. “We have enemies.”

Earl considered this, “They haven’t found her yet. We could always engage in operation Fido.”

Mike barked out a laugh. “Are you volunteering?”

“Hell no!” Earl almost shouted. “But I know you keep a list of guy who would be up for that. If she doesn’t check in, I could always bring her a ‘pet’ next time I’m in the area.”

Mike thought about that. “And we can always arrange for you to be in the area.”

\----

Alice had spent some time talking to Earl on the phone for the last month or so. He seemed like a decent enough guy and it was nice not to have to worry about accidentally slipping in an archaic phrase or two during the conversations.

He talked about where he was - all over North America and started texting her pictures. It was nice. A little like traveling without leaving home.

She was a little surprised when he asked if she could babysit his dog for a month while he was in Ireland.

“How do you even have a dog? You live in your truck.” she asked.

“Exactly,” Earl replied. “I live in my truck. It’s my home. Having Sammie along makes it feel like home. But you have the best space for walking him I have ever seen.”

“Don’t they have kennels for this sort of thing?”

“Um… kennels won’t take unneutered dogs. Sammie is a purebred and I’m not allowed to get him fixed until he has two litters with the breeder. But they can’t take him because they just had puppies.”

“What kind of dog is he?”

“A Malamute. He’s really well trained. It’s like he can understand everything you say. “


	6. The Elves and the Shoemaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's creepy. Alice encounters some new wildlife.

Alice was having a bad day.  Or more specifically, a bad night.  She was working graveyards. It was full moon, Saturday night and the day after payday all at the same time.

 

She had been at work for about an hour before a drunk threw up on her.  She had changed into her back up uniform only to be within blast radius of a 6 month old with explosive diarrhea a couple of hours after that.  At which point, she was down to hospital provided scrubs, had six hours left on her shift and the bars let out.

 

By the time she got home she was bone weary and still had to walk the damn dog.  She was deeply regretting agreeing to dog sit for Earl. She wasn’t entirely sure how he had talked her into it, to be perfectly honest.  She got home, they did a quick zombie like walk around the block, then Alice fell into bed and almost immediately lost consciousness. But not before Sammie made a worried little whimpering noise.  “C’mon on.” she mumbled. He jumped up on the bed and she spooned him as she fell asleep. Her last thought was, “huh, not as stinky as dogs usually are.”

 

Her alarm went off at six (pm) and she hit snooze a couple of times before getting up.  She wandered into her surprisingly clean shower and frowned. It had been getting gross yesterday.  She had been meaning to clean it for a couple of weeks now. This morning, it was positively gleaming.

 

That was…. Odd.  She didn’t remember washing the coffee pot and getting it ready to go either, but all she had to do was push the button, it was all set up.  While it dripped, she looked around the kitchen and noticed her dust free baseboards. She fed the dog and took her coffee out through her streak free patio doors to have breakfast on the balcony. 

 

She sipped her coffee thoughtfully for a few moments.  There was no way someone broke into her apartment to clean.  That meant that either she was sleep cleaning, or cleaning and forgetting or she had finally gotten dementia and just didn’t remember hiring a cleaning service.

 

Aw fuck.

 

She looked down at Sammie who wagged his tail, encouragingly.  “Well, I’m certainly old enough to be getting dementia.” Sammie looked alarmed and whined at her.  “Whoops! Yes, walk the dog.” Alice scrambled in to clothes, pulled her still damp hair into a messy bun and took the dog for a walk.  

 

Smithers was already full dark by seven PM in December, and everyone said that trail running in the dark was dangerous.  Alice just shrugged and stopped talking about it. She never had any trouble seeing where she was going. Her prefered loop took her about an hour.  She ran it every “morning,” which, given shift work really meant when she woke up before work. It was a path she knew and loved, through the woods, past a stream with a pretty little waterfall and back to her house.

 

It was lovely.

 

Mostly.

 

There was about a hundred yards or so where she was the furthest from her house that always seemed a little creepy.  Sammie had picked up on that the very first day. He always stayed closer to her for that stretch. 

 

Aside from that, he sort of mostly stayed in sight, occasionally darting out into the trees after a rabbit, or probably to poop.  Alice felt bad about that. She was more than prepared to pick up after the dog, but he would disappear into the underbrush. She had him for three days now and hadn’t seen him poop once.  She was sure he must, which meant it must be in the brush under the trees.

 

Today when they got to the part of the path than made Alice nervous, Sammie put on the breaks and started growling.  Sarah stopped running and looked at him. He moved in front of her and started snarling and backing away, pushing her back with him as he went.  Alice looked up and saw… a shape. It was upright and furry and her brain supplied the description ‘bear,’

 

She swallowed and backed away.  “Good boy, Sammie,” she said carefully.  She knew not to turn and run, but she kept backing up.  The dog followed, saying between here and the massive dark shape.

 

Sammie started barking frantically.  The creature cocked it head to the side then dropped to all fours and lumbered off.  Sarah turned and sprinted away. She could get up a fair turn of speed when she needed to, but today she was running flat out as fast as she could.  Sammie was easily pacing her.

 

By the time she got home she was shaking uncontrollably.  She paced for a while until she calmed down enough to google if she needed to call someone.  Then she felt like an idiot. She had been walking in the woods, at night. It was only a matter of time until she saw something.  She sat there staring at her computer in a state of vague shock. Sammie whined and nudged her hand.

 

“Good boy, Sammie.  Good dog.” Alice scratched his ears then got out of her chair to sit on the floor next to the dog.  He leaned against her. She knew better than to hug him, but she thought about it. After a moment, she got it together and made herself an omelette.  While she was cooking, she looked at the dog. He was watching her with a worried expression. “I’m sorry, I’m freaking out and making you nervous. I’ll share my eggs, and I will feel better by the time I get home from work.  It will be fine. But for now, we eat, then I’ll let you sit on the couch while I watch the news. You probably sit on the couch while I’m at work anyway.”

 

Alice took her plate of eggs to the couch and turned on the TV.  It was on the movie channel, which was odd because she only ever watched CBC.  “I’m losing my mind,” she muttered to herself. 

 

After she had eaten and the adrenaline had drained from her body, Alice nodded off in front of the TV until her phone rang telling her she was late for work.  With a whole lot of swearing, she put on a uniform, grabbed a spare and rushed out the door without her lunch. 

 

This made for a very long shift.

 

Fortunately, Greg was a fan and she was able to talk him into bringing her some take out.  It wasn’t anything fancy, soup du jour and some fresh bread, but it was exactly the comfort food she was looking for.  Greg got a friendly hug when he refused to let her pay for it. He was a nice enough man, but, sadly, he smelled worse than Earl’s dog.  Greg was only one of the reason she was getting ready to move on.

 

That was also when she realized she hadn’t washed yesterday’s disgusting uniforms.  Great. That wasn’t something to look forward to after her shift. It was her last night this week, then she got five days off before she was back.  She just had to get through tonight and the stinking laundry and then she could spend most of the week in her jammies reading.

 

And doing her grade 12 homework.  Crap! She had forgotten about that.  Screw drinking alone, when she got home she was having a beer.

 

When she got home, she opened a beer and downed half of it before she was willing to face the laundry.  Except she couldn’t find her dirty uniforms. She could find the bag she brought them home in. It took a fair exhaustive search to find them washed, dried, IRONNED, and hung up in her closet.  

 

What the hell? She never ironned!  That’s why her drier had a steam function.

 

And!  And! Someone had cleaned out the fridge.

 

She stood there staring at it.  This was really creepy. She looked down at a nervous looking Sammie and muttered, “Some guard dog you turned out to be.”  He whined up at her with the classic guilty looking dog face. Alice huffed and took out the garbage. She wasn’t sure who would be coming into her house.  But the whole idea of being the shoemaker and letting mysterious forces go through her stuff was upsetting. Even if they were cleaning.

 

On her way back to her apartment, she stopped to talk to the superintendent.

 

“Hey, Bob?  Have you seen anything strange going on around here?”

 

Bob was an older (Ha!) gentleman in his late sixties.  He was short and wrinkled and attempting to hide his male pattern baldness with a really bad comb over.  He peered up at her over his reading glasses and and frowned. “I can’t say as I have, Alice.”

 

Alice considered this before saying, “It seems like someone has been in my apartment.”

 

Bob laughed, “That’s be the dog moving things because he gets bored while you’re away.  Don’t you worry about it, darling. I’ll keep an eye out.”

 

Alice frowned and nodded.  On one hand, she found Bob incredibly patronizing.  On the other, he was a horrible busy body and would certainly be watching her place now.  The downside of that was if she mentioned the laundry, everyone in town would have heard about it by lunch time.  The man was practically the towns public address system.

 

In the end, all she could say was, “Thanks, Bob!” before heading back to her apartment.

 

 


	7. It's a Dog's Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please note the changed of rating! Also, I'm not sure how to exactly to tag this. If you are triggered by the idea of being watched.... this is no longer the fic for you.
> 
> Sammie's perspective on the last couple of days.

Samuel was getting nervous.  This wasn’t exactly what he thought he was signing up for.  On paper it sounded great. A Yennork all to himself. No trace of other Loopers for miles.

 

In reality, he was bored out of his mind.  Alice spend more than ten hours a day at work.  She had told Earl that was why she didn’t have a dog.  And that made sense, but now here he was. It would be easier if he was a dog and needed seventeen hours of sleep a day, but he got by just fine on six.

 

And he was already getting tired on the salmon and sweet potato kibble he had picked out.

 

Sure, it tasted different in this form, but he missed eating as a human.

 

Plus she smelled good.

 

Oh god!  She smelled so good.

 

And she scratched his ears and rubbed his back and basically massaged her scent into him.  It was like heaven.

 

He was pretty sure, if he rolled over, she would rub his belly.

 

Which was a whole other layer of awkward.  His dick had already dropped involuntarily twice and he’d only been here a few days.  He had to wait until she was out of the apartment to lick himself. The last thing he wanted was for her to suddenly have to face the idea of werewolves because he shifted to combat form as he came.

 

So far his day had been:

 

She gets up, has coffee, feeds him kibble.  She goes for a ten mile cross country run with the far end of the loop reaching to the very edge of her territory, where it bumps up against the turf of a very, very old Looper.   Just the smell of the guy made Sam’s tail tuck between his legs. When she gets home, she has a shower. Then she makes breakfast, packs her lunch and goes to work for at least ten hours.  

 

At which point Sam has nothing to do.  Generally, he jerks off a couple of times, making sure to clean up after himself.  Then he watches TV for a while, does his sit ups, push ups, squats and dips. He has a shower and another wank.

 

Which leaves him with another four hours before she gets home.

 

He doesn’t have clothes or a key, so he can’t leave the apartment.  He has to stay away from the windows.

 

Honestly, he started trying to subtly tidy up a little just to have something to do.  He was being sneaky, though. He didn’t do all the laundry. He was careful to make sure there was still some in the hamper.  He washed the sheets, then put the same ones back on the bed. He didn’t move anything, he just dusted carefully around everything.  He left her fingerprints on the fridge.

 

When she got home from work, she generally had another shower to wash the stink of hospital off of her.  Then she would feed the dog, make supper, take him for a walk. Then leave him in the apartment while she ran errands.

 

Except for when she came home Sunday morning.  That time she didn’t eat or wash before crawling into bed still in someone else scrubs.  That had made him nervous. Then she called him up on the bed and cuddled him. Which was a whole different level of alarming.

 

She smelled like work and stress and someone else’s laundry soap.  Not sexy at all. She hadn’t eaten enough and he could smell hunger and dehydration.  In that moment, she was not a happy and cared for Yennork. It had been a really bad night for Sam.

 

Then in the morning, she still didn’t eat but went for a run.  

 

Which is how he ended up standing between a Yennork that smelled like she was being abused and a very angry elder Looper.

 

That hadn’t been in the job description at all.

 

He was pretty sure if she hadn’t chosen that exact moment to say ‘good boy,’ he would have be shredded by the elder.

 

Fuck that guy was big.  Sam had to talk fast to get the guy to stand down.  He was honestly surprised it had worked. Alice had spend the night before holding him, so Sam stank like her hunger and distress.

 

And Alice was so afraid.  Even when they got home, she was still shaking as the fear and adrenaline drained away.

 

God, that was the last thing he wanted to see from a Yennork.  He was supposed to take care of her.

 

But he couldn’t.  Not like this. He didn’t have a cell phone and Alice didn’t have a landline, so he couldn’t even check in or call for backup.

 

God damn it!  He was in so much trouble!

 

He wasn’t quite sure why she said he was a bad guard dog today, but he certainly didn’t feel deserving of a Yennork.  The way things were going, he was just making it worse.

 

\----

 

She came back from taking out the garbage.  She had gone to the store and bought a bag of salad and a roast chicken.  The chicken was making his mouth water. Fuck. Be a good dog and lay on the carpet in the living room, he told himself.  She ate at the kitchen table. After a few moments she called him over and started hand feeding him little bits of chicken.  It was such a nice change from kibble. He used it as an excuse to spend extra time licking her fingers.

 

She ate with a knife and fork.  He ate with her fingers. Fuck that was hot.  Yeah, Sam decided, he could get into this submissive thing.  

 

When she was done, she washed her hands, cleared her plate and packed up the rest of the chicken.  She filled his bowl with kibble, then disappeared into her bedroom while he was eating. When he finished, he went to find her.  The bedroom door was closed tight. He whined and pawed at the door.

 

“Fuck off!” came the startled reply.

 

Sam whimpered and lay down.  With his nose on the floor at the crack under her door, he could smell her touching herself.  Jesus Christ. He was not prepared for that. Oh, god! She smelled so good! And if he was quiet he could hear every little grunt, every slurp.  He whimpered again. He was so hard right now, it was physically painful. And he couldn’t even lick to take the edge off. If he came, he would change and he couldn’t let her see him like that.

 

By the time Alice came with a gasp, a crunch, and a little cry, Sam was a quivering, drooling mess on the floor outside of her door.

 

Four days down.

 

Twenty six to go.

 

Damn it.  This was going to be a long month.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ummm... yeah....
> 
> So.... What do you think?


	8. We're all Mad Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice finally has to face the truth about what she is.

Alice just needed to take the edge off.  Her libido had been gone for decades, but was suddenly back with a vengeance.  And worryingly, her dreams were featuring a humanoid version of Sammie. She was aware of furries, but never would have described herself as one.

 

She was starting to be concerned she was losing her mind.

 

And she had no idea what to do about that.

 

How do you go for psych assessment when you’re over a hundred and still look thirty?  Nevermind the blackouts where she was apparently sleep cleaning, the belief that she was a hundred would get her committed all on its own.

 

She wanted to just call Earl and tell him she couldn’t deal with his dog just now, but the man was in Ireland, what the hell could he do about it?

 

What she needed to do was quit her job before her mental health impacted patient care.  She knew that if she was blacking out, it was the responsible thing to do. She had already started composing her letter of resignation, but she just couldn’t bring herself to submit it.  It wasn’t as though she needed the money. She could live off her savings for years.

 

But…

 

Ever since her husband had passed, work was all she had.  She couldn’t stand day time television and when they had forced her to take her vacation last year, she was bored by the third day.  In theory, she could go travel the world, but… that just wasn’t her. She was happy being settled someplace small, where she could make the town her responsibility.

 

If she was having blackouts, traveling was off the table.

 

Alice was wound up and stressed out and she knew a way to get temporary relief from both of those things.

 

She had one of the first home use “massagers” from back when they were a medical device used to treat hysteria in women. Since then, she had kept up with technology. She had spent too long in healthcare to have any residual shame about human sexuality. She also had self care down to a science. Well, for her at least.

 

She found her magic wand in a box in the bottom of the closet, along with the other toys she neglected most of the year.  She closed the door with the dog occupied in the kitchen with kibble and took matters into her own hands.

 

She had barely started when the damn dog started whining at the door.  That was a buzz kill. She shouted at the dog and concentrated on remembering the way Earl smelled.  She wasn’t really interested on inviting him over, it was just that he smelled good. In a world full of Axe body spray, it was rare to find someone who actually smelled good.

 

\----

 

Alice got up the next morning and headed to the kitchen, almost tripping over the dog when she walked out through the door.  Stumbled for a couple of steps before regaining her balance. “Sorry, Sammie. I wasn’t trying to step on you. Let’s go have some breakfast ok.”

 

Coffee, kibble, run.  That was how the day went.  How it was supposed to go. This time, however, Sammie wasn’t happy going on the path.  “It’s ok,” she said, trying to pull a dog bigger than herself down the path, “I have never seen a bear around here, I’m sure it’s gone.  Plus I have pepper spray, so we are good.”

 

Sammie was not going to follow.  Alice thought about that for a few moments.  Earl had said he was trained to walk off leash.  Well, it was worth a try. She unclipped the lead, and Sammie backed away with a whine.  “C’mon, silly. Heel!” And with that, Alice started her run. Sammie stayed next to her, but he was whining the whole time.

 

Alice put on her running playlist, playing it through the speaker rather than the headphones and sang along as she ran.  That should be more than enough to give the local wildlife fair warning that she was coming.

 

When they got to the scary spot, Alice slowed down, started watching the trees and singing louder.

 

“Will you stop that infernal racket, woman!”

 

Alice jumped and shrieked as a big, hairy man stepped out from behind a tree.  He was wearing a ratty plaid shirt and some very weathered jeans. His hair and beard were long and it didn’t look like he had bathed this year.  Alice froze. This was just as scary as the bear. The man was probably armed.

 

“Sorry!” she said.  “I saw a bear here yesterday.  I wanted to make sure I didn’t see it again.”

 

The man snorted.  Then he looked at her, “Really?  A bear? Is this a joke? Bad enough they ain’t teaching you yung’uns to Speak, you have to go callin’ me a BEAR.”

 

Alice stared at him.  “That was you?”

 

Sammie started to bark.  The man cocked his head and listened.  Then he turned to Alice, “When and where were you bitten?” 

 

“Um…”  Alice thought fast, “Do you know Earl?”

 

The man just shrugged.  He pulled off his shirt and brushed off some dirt to show a bite mark on his left shoulder.

 

Alice stared.  “Yeah, I have one of those.  On my shoulder too.” 

 

“You notice your boy has a bite mark on his back leg?”

 

“Oh!  Yeah, his owner said he was rescued from a dog fighting ring.”

 

“Aren’t you his owner?”

 

“No.  I’m just dog sitting.  Um… how old are you?”

 

“I was born in 1783.  Where’s your pack?”

 

“My pack?”

 

The man rolled his eyes, “Your Loopers, girl.  If he aint yours where’s they?”

 

Sammie barked some more.

 

The man looked right at him and shook his head.  ‘Well, that’s stupid.” Then he turned to Alice and said, “Your dog says you don’t know you’re a werewolf.”

 

Alice’s eyes went wide and she started to back away. 

 

The man started to undo his pants.

 

She turned and bolted.  She made it about a hundred yards before fury arms wrapped around her body and took her down, rolling so that she crashed into a body instead of the train.  She struggled and tried to get away. 

 

Suddenly, Sammie changed.  Now he was werewolf shaped too.  Alice was hyperventilating. She tried to slow her breathing.

 

It didn’t work.

 

\----

 

Alice woke up in a dilapidated log cabin.  There was grungy light streaming in through dirty single pane windows.  The cabin was one 10’x10’ square. She was laying on a pile of furs by a stone fireplace.  There was an old wood burning stove, in the kitchen where naked, hairy and dirty was making something that smelled like wild rice.

 

She looked around to try to see the door.

 

“Relax.  I just wanna talk to ya.”

 

“Where’s Sammie?”

 

The man snorted with laughter.  “Your boy aint so happy bout being seen without his trousers.  He’s waiting outside. I’m bigger and stronger and meaner than him.  And I don’t want him in my house.”

 

Something was crawling up Alice’s leg,  She scrambled up off the pile of furs and brushed off her legs with a shudder.  When she looked up, the man was standing too close. She screamed again and backed away.

 

Someone rattled the cabin door.  The man turned and growled at it.  He literally growled at the door. Then he handed Alice a tin mug of peppermint tea.  She took it instinctively, but there was no way she was going to drink something this looney had just passed to her.

 

“Pup says they’re tryin’ to break it to you gently that yur a werewolf.”

 

Alice froze and panicked.

 

The man noticed.

 

“Easy there, girl.  I ain’t gonna hurt you.  It’s just that I can tell, ‘cus I’m one too.  Harder for a women to know she’s been turned. You can’t change shape.  You just stop gettin’ old. Your vision and smell get better. Your rag slows down.  Maybe you get a bit more territorial. But none of that says werewolf. Men just get it because they change and then they know.  It ain’t always easy to convince a Yennork that she’s changed.”

 

He looked at her some more.  “The pup says he’s been takin care of the place for you while you’re at work.  Thinks he’s being subtle.” He laughed again. That short bark of a laugh. “Ha! A woman will know if someone is moving her things.  A Yennork will sure as shit notice.”

 

Alice frowned, “You think the dog is cleaning my house?”

 

The man grinned.  “Yeah. Thing is, you’re gonna believe that too.  Ain’t no way you is walking home from here. Only way to get to this cabin is to be monster shaped.  When you’re ready to leave, you’re gonna need the pup to half shift and carry you out. Same as I brought you here.”

 

Alice swallowed and looked at the mad man.  “I’m ready to leave now.”

 

He grinned and took the mug of tea.  He took a swig and stood aside. Off, you go then.  Just watch the step at the edge of the porch.”

 

Alice pulled the door open.  Sammie was laying on the porch, he jumped up when he saw her.  At the edge of the porch was a cliff. The cabin was built on an outcrop on the mountain.  She could see the town from here, but it was miles away. And the forest between her and there was thick.  The cliff wasn’t a sheer drop, but it had to be an 70-80% grade. There was no way she was making it safely down.  She looked back at the naked, dirty, grinning man and briefly had the extra repulsion at seeing the state of his teeth in actual daylight. She took an involuntary step back and almost lost her balance.

 

Fortunately, that was when Sammie turned into a well scrubbed naked man and caught her arm.  She looked between the two men and said, “I have completely lost my mind.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please!
> 
> Also, if this work is scratching your teratophilia itch, check out my other work, Neighbours, set in the Bright universe.


	9. Moving On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice does not take it well.
> 
> With my sincerest apologies! This has been done for a while and I just forgot to post it!

It was a terrifying half hour clinging to the back of a naked man who was alleged the dog she had been taking care of to get down the cliff face.  Followed by a fifteen minute hike over uneven ground to get back to the trail. Alice emailed in her resignation, effective immediately as soon as she was back in cell ranged.

 

When she got back to her apartment, she took a moment to gather up all the newspapers, magazines, flyers and random bits of paper that build up and take them to the communal recycling bin.  Once that was done, she stood up the antique steamer trunk she used as a coffee table. Once open it was short hang on one side and drawers on the other. Everything that she owned that she wanted to keep, fit into that trunk.

 

It took her fifteen minutes to pack.  She had put time in practicing over the years.

 

At the three minute mark, Sammie was once again human and asked, “What are you doing?”

 

“What does it look like I’m doing?  I’m packing.”

 

Sammie started to panic. “Why?”

 

Alice froze and stared at him.  “Why?” she repeated. “Let’s see.  I am either in the middle of a psychotic break or I have just been abducted by werewolves.  Which one seems more likely?”

 

Sam whimpered.  “You aren’t having a psychotic break.”

 

“And I should believe the shape shifting dog when he tells me that.”

 

Sam whined for a moment, then grabbed Alice’s phone.  He texted 911 to home base. “I’m coming with you,” he said, firmly.

 

“No.” 

 

“Alice.  Take the dog.  He is your responsibility.”

 

She stopped packing for a moment to stare at him.  Then she crumpled into a heap on the floor and started to cry.  Sammie sat next to her and rubbed her back.

 

The Topley pack turned up forty three minutes later.

 

Alice was packed and Sammie was sitting on her to keep her from leaving when they arrived.

 

There was a fair amount of growling before Sammie was able to convince them that the reason he had duct taped up a Yennork was that she was a danger to herself.  Under the cover of darkness, Alice, her computer and her packed trunk were loaded into the packs’ van and she was transported to the Haven in Furry Creek.

 

It was a twelve hour drive.

 

There was lots of time for the pack to try to convince her than neither she nor they were insane.

 

It didn’t really work.

 

Nathan was waiting for them when they arrived.  He listened patiently to Sammie’s explanation of what had happened.  Then he made pointed eye contact with the Topley alpha.

 

“I’ll take care of it.”  And with that the Topleys left.

 

Nathan sighed and told Sam to go get some proper clothes.

 

Then he lead Alice into a clean white office and asked her if she knew where she was.

 

She looked at him then silently shook her head.

 

Nathan groaned and rubbed his hand over this bald head, scrubbing over hair that wasn’t there before coming to rest on the biohazard sign he had tattooed in the back.  He looked at her and went with the truth. “You are in Furry Creek BC. I have to admit, I saw the name on the map years ago and couldn’t resist.” He gave her a sheepish grin full of crooked teeth.  “We have a thirty room resort set up here. It is pretty much impossible to find. We are off grid, and the access road looks like a logging road. We are officially a private wildlife reserve. Again, I just couldn’t resist.  I have that kind of sense of humour. Nic always says I still think like a twelve year old boy.”

 

He watched her for a long moment.   “We call these places Havens. They are places to house those who are in danger.  Either from themselves or others. Sam is afraid you made hurt yourself.”

 

Alice didn’t say anything.

 

Nathan considered her.  “You won’t be alone.” He pulled out a phone and fidgeted for a moment. “C’mon.  I can smell that you are hungry and we can find you a roommate in the dining hall.”

 

\----

 

Alice ended up sharing a room with a woman named Olivia.  Olivia believed she had been made a werewolf by her boss after she was diagnosed with aggressive MS.

 

“His pack already had a Yennork.  Her name is Marie. I thought she was his sister, to be totally honest.”

 

Alice smiled and nodded and waited for the drug and therapy to start.

 

There weren’t any drugs.  There wasn’t any cult like programing either.

 

There was arts and crafts.

 

Alice spent more than week making a quilt top.  She had been given a catalog of kits to choose from.  She picked one in a  [ honeycomb pattern ](http://www.quiltylove.com/introducing-hexie-framed-quilt-pattern/) . 

 

She remembered why she hated quilting.  It was 10% sewing, 20% cutting out little fiddly bits and 70% ironing.  What kind of person took up artistic IRONING as a hobby? At least while she was sewing people left her alone.  With CBC radio and her favourite sewing machine. It was like a holiday, except for all the ironing.

 

Mind you the second day someone asked her how it was going and when she grumbled about the fucking iron, she suddenly had a bunch of volunteers to be her iron slaves.  At first, they tried to chat her up. Alice ignored them. By the third day, she was noticing turn over in the ironners. They would talk quietly amongst themselves and by day five they had settled out to Sammie and a group of relatively quiet men who did make Alice want to scream just having them around.

 

She kept waiting for them to try to talk to her about the whole werewolf thing.  They didn’t. She ignored it. They ignored it. They helped her figure out how she wanted to arrange her pieces.

 

She had free run of the place and unlimited internet access and a seemingly unlimited budget for all the shopping she wanted to do.

 

That wasn’t as interesting as she might have thought.  Alice wasn’t a stuff person. She found the clutter visually exhausting.  So while Olivia got new deliveries everyday, Alice kept sewing a quilt in various pale colours.  The day the woman squealed as she opened a box of bone china, Alice went to Nathan’s office to ask for a new room mate.  After all, Olivia needed the space to foster her hoarding disorder.

 

Nathan had choked at her explanation.  Then laughed and asked if she had anyone in mind.

 

Alice shrugged.  “I want my own god damn room.  But that isn’t going to happen, is it?”

 

Nathan looked at her.  “Your background means that you are smart enough to fake any psych eval we could give you.  So I am just going to flat out ask, are you at risk for self harm?”

 

“No!  Just because I’m having difficulty with reality right now doesn’t mean I’m dangerous!”

 

“OK.  Let’s go pick out a room for you.”

 

They were just empty rooms.  Big, open, high ceilings, basically Alice was picking which side of the building she wanted to be on.  She picked the north facing one for the indirect light and the deco gas fireplace. By the time she was done dinner, some one had moved her furniture in.  And it was HER furniture. Out of her apartment.

 

Huh.

 

Well, not all of it.  But still, her bed, her desk, her knitting chair.  She could smell where the ironing men had carried in her mattress.  Sammie had carried in her chair. Alice wasn’t sure what she thought about that.

 

There wasn’t a TV.  She had the CBC app on her laptop, so she wasn’t actually bothered by that.  She was checking the news. She had not been reported missing.

 

She was almost done the quilt when Nathan came over.  “Earl is here. He would like to see you.”

 

“I have nothing to say to that man.”

 

It was not mentioned again.

 

The day she finished her quilt top, she.  She looked around to figure out what to do next.  One of the ironing men asked, “Are you going to do the backing yourself or send it out to be long arm quilted?”

 

Alice gaped at him.  “What is your name?”

 

He got a deer in the headlights look, “I’m Drew, ma’am,” he said nervously.

 

“What is long arm quilted, Drew?”

 

“Um… it’s this big machine that attaches the batting and backing.”

 

Alice thought about that.  “If I send it out, I don’t have anything to do.”

 

They all stared at her.  Sam cleared his throat, “Um… there is a library and a theatre and a spa.  There are hiking trails all over the grounds….” he trailed off as Alice glared at him.

 

“But I can’t do those things.”

 

One of the others cleared his throat, “Why not?”

 

Alice thought about that.  Nathan had said she wouldn’t be alone… but he had given her a room of her own. 

 

“I could go with you,” the redhead offered.  When Alice looked at him, he blushed as red as his hair, then squared his shoulders and add, “or, any of us.”

 

“What was your name?”

 

“James.”

 

“Can you turn into a dog, James?”

 

“Yes?”  James cleared his throat.  “Wanna see?” Then he noticed Sam shaking his head.

 

“Show me.”

 

\----

 

In the end, it took Alice a while to get her pack the way she wanted it.  She kept most of the ironing slaves. And Sammie. Her first encounter with an alpha did not go well.  Alice had spent too many years working in Emerg to put up with that bullshit. But a pack of nicely behaved, quiet men who do the ironing and dishes…  well, that was worth keeping.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Comments?


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